Qantas CEO Alan Joyce, speaking at the CAPA AustraliaPacific Aviation Summit, stated (08-Aug-2013) he is confident the correlation between fuel prices and the Australian dollar will be reestablished, however stating: "the environment remains very volatile and uncertain". Mr Joyce attributed part of the short-term uncertainty to the upcoming federal election in Sep-2013, stating it is impacting consumer spending and confidence. Despite the weakness in the market, Mr Joyce said Qantas remains profitable.

You may also be interested in the following articles...

Qantas and Emirates are again evolving global airline alliances and partnerships. Four years after announcing their landmark joint venture, Qantas in late 2016 is expected to disclose additions to the way it serves Europe in partnership with Emirates. The possible changes – a new nonstop London flight, reintroducing an Asian stopover – may seem incremental. There is a significant impact to the many airlines competing in the Europe-Australia market, but the underlying relevance is global.

The expansion of the JV would not be possible without the increased comfort that Emirates and Qantas feel toward each other, and their ability to have intricate models for handling the increasingly complicated partnership and number of hubs involved. JVs are no longer in a binary classification of existence or absence; there is a scale from rudimentary to near-consolidation.

As JVs like Qantas-Emirates become more sophisticated, the basic JVs – or even airlines without – are dearly lacking. There has been a profusion of JVs in recent years, with more on the way, but they have tended to be confined. Partners need to be more comfortable with each other in order to add additional airlines and markets, later consolidating as they stitch together individual partnerships.

Singapore Airlines (SIA) will launch services from Jakarta to Sydney in Nov-2016, resulting in new competition for rivals Garuda Indonesia and Australia’s Qantas Airways. SIA’s entrance on the Jakarta-Sydney route is a strategic move and highlights its desire to pursue new areas of growth.

The Indonesia-Australia market is a logical market for SIA as it seeks to diversify its business. Indonesia and Australia are already SIA’s two largest international markets and Garuda and Qantas are already among its biggest competitors.

Competition within Asia Pacific, including the Southeast Asia-Australia market, has been intensifying. In the current highly competitive and challenging environment airlines are constantly jockeying and exploring new options to improve their position.